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The annals of influencer marketing have their share of horror stories — influencers who won’t let go of a negative point of view, and won’t stop sharing it. It doesn’t really matter how good your influencer marketing program is. Sooner or later, an influencer will shift from neutral to negative. How will you handle the situation? In our Influencer50 client … Read More

Sway has just been added to Alltop’s Marketing collection. Marketing.alltop aggregates the headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover marketing. It’s an excellent resource on a range of marketing topics. I’m proud that Sway is included. I often use Alltop collections in my online work, and recommend them in my offline life. That’s where … Read More

Can winning industry awards help sell products and services? According to the Influencer Marketing book, the answer is no: “Industry awards are primarily self-congratulatory ‘feel good’ exercises, which have limited marketing value and all but zero influence on the top decision-makers.” — Nick Hayes and Duncan Brown They do credit awards with some value in the early stage of a … Read More

Influence made The Harvard Business Review 2009 List of breakthrough business ideas. As you know, I’m a fan of the idea that social media may expand traditional spheres of influence by eroding reliance on physical “nearness” (propinquity), to decision-makers. The HBR study by James Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis tightens the noose the other way: “New research shows that personal … Read More

It’s easy to get caught up in what to say, how to say it — even how many characters to say it in — and completely lose sight of the simple truth that our words are just words, unless they’re backed by actions. This is certainly not a new idea. However, it’s being expressed by lots of different people right … Read More

LinkedIn is one of several tools that can help influencers pursue their passion for gathering and sharing knowledge. Here’s some insight from my own experiments as well as conversations with influencers: Starting with basics, treat LinkedIn as a directory for being found. Create a complete profile. Write every section of text for fast, easy reading — and with a eye … Read More

You probably think of LinkedIn as a recruiting and job hunting network. It also serves as a valuable backoffice tool for analyst relations, consultant relations, and fully integrated B2B influencer programs. The price is certainly right: basic services are free, and business upgrades are economical. Plus, the number of profiles keeps growing. As of last week, LinkedIn claimed more than … Read More

It’s tempting to think of influencer programs as master plans for turning objective decision influencers into your company’s bona fide fans. The truth is, that’s not a desirable goal for your influencer programs. Valuable influencers maintain a high level of objectivity. Some call it integrity. Others describe it as independence or ethics. Whatever label you prefer, compromising it is a … Read More

To industry observers the situation seems clear: changes taking place in IT buyer decision processes require corresponding changes in how vendors deal with influencers, such as the industry analysts. However, the changes in tech decision-maker processes have been gradual and have varied greatly by market. Plus, critical aspects of buying decisions remain hidden from external view. As a result, few … Read More

Your top competitors are as influential with your customers and prospects as you are. This raises an interesting question: how can you leverage competitors as part of your influencer marketing program? One proven tactic is recruiting influential staff from competitors. Another tactic is getting competitors to talk about your company in a positive way. To do this, you want to … Read More

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Barbara French helps people connect with the experts and knowledge they need to achieve their business objectives ... bio »